How "Everything Must Change" [Excerpts]
A Pastor Reports on Brian McLaren's "Everything Must Change" Tour
Upon arriving at Goshen College on May 9, 2008), I immediately went to the registration table to pick up my name tag along with all the other conference materials. I was handed a plain cloth tote bag containing sample publications from organizations such as The Sierra Club, the One Campaign, Emergent Village, etc. As I came to the end of the table, I was also given a complimentary “green,” low-energy light bulb. I knew at that moment, that I was about to begin a very unique experience to say the least.
The first session of the evening was entitled, “Focusing on the Wounds of our Planet.” We sang a song based upon St. Francis of Assisi’s poem “Brother Sun, Sister Moon.” and were then led in an opening prayer of “location and repentance” by an attractive young African-American woman who approached the microphone and began the invocation.
“O Great God, we gather here where the Elkhart and St. Joseph rivers meet and then flow into Lake Michigan. From Lake Michigan to Lake Ontario, on through Niagara and ultimately into the Atlantic, one of Your great oceans that cover the face of the earth.”
She then went on: “We repent for the violence and injustice done to the Illini, Miami, and other native tribes of the St. Joseph River Valley;” to which the audience responded, “Ancient One, Forgive us.”
When she spoke of the native tribes, she was overcome with emotion and had to step back from the microphone until she could collect herself and continue; only after being comforted by an associate on the platform. Allow me to say right here and now that I was touched by the young woman’s sincerity, and in no way want to mock or denigrate her feelings and convictions; I merely desire to express my serious disagreement with both the philosophy and logic behind them. Following that “liturgy,” we viewed a DVD prepared by the Sierra Club exposing the immoral mining techniques used by energy companies in West Virginia. We were then asked to break up into small groups of two or three to discuss our thoughts and feelings, until being called back together by a gently ringing chime; a sound which became very familiar during the entire weekend.
The emergent community’s fixation with non-Biblical practices rooted in the Middle Ages has been responsible for leading many sincere pilgrims to explore the “ancient-modern” church through candles, incense, adoration of icons and relics, etc. The audience was repeatedly encouraged to cast off their old “framing story” (the way they see the world) including such bad things as doctrinal and systematic Bible study, since (according to emergent thought) nothing can be definitely known. Therefore, any positive statements that sounded like confidence in the existence of absolute truth were scoffed at as being “narrow minded and proud.”
http://www.crossroad.to/articles2/08/discernment/6-6-mclaren-1.htm
